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catherine_t's review against another edition
4.0
A wealthy businessman retires in order to devote himself to a great work of charity, only to discover that he's been going about it in quite the wrong way.
This synopsis is really dry, and honestly says very little about the book, but A Prisoner in Fairyland is pretty much impossible to sum up. On the surface, the above synopsis is what the book is about. Henry Rogers retires, intending to devote himself to his grand Scheme for Disabled--we never learn exactly what--and on a whim goes back to his hometown. There, he rediscovers the fantasy world he'd imagined to entertain himself and his friends as a boy. The fantasy world, he soon learns, is real, and very much connected with the "real" world. He learns that he can effect more good in the world through this Starlight Express train and the people who travel upon it, through "lost starlight" redistribution, than he could ever hope to through his Scheme and with his money.
A Prisoner in Fairyland would be described as "magic realism" today, and as such, is probably one of the earliest works of that type. The underlying theme is that true charity comes not through monetary donations or great charitable Schemes but through simple human kindness, one to another. Blackwood brings in thought transference as his method of creating kindness: think good thoughts, and good things will happen. If enough people think good thoughts, then much that is wrong with the world will be righted. It's positively beautiful.
This synopsis is really dry, and honestly says very little about the book, but A Prisoner in Fairyland is pretty much impossible to sum up. On the surface, the above synopsis is what the book is about. Henry Rogers retires, intending to devote himself to his grand Scheme for Disabled--we never learn exactly what--and on a whim goes back to his hometown. There, he rediscovers the fantasy world he'd imagined to entertain himself and his friends as a boy. The fantasy world, he soon learns, is real, and very much connected with the "real" world. He learns that he can effect more good in the world through this Starlight Express train and the people who travel upon it, through "lost starlight" redistribution, than he could ever hope to through his Scheme and with his money.
A Prisoner in Fairyland would be described as "magic realism" today, and as such, is probably one of the earliest works of that type. The underlying theme is that true charity comes not through monetary donations or great charitable Schemes but through simple human kindness, one to another. Blackwood brings in thought transference as his method of creating kindness: think good thoughts, and good things will happen. If enough people think good thoughts, then much that is wrong with the world will be righted. It's positively beautiful.
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